Store Design

Sustainable design and build methodologies are part of our DNA.

We believe a coffeehouse should be a place to find connection. We believe it should fit seamlessly within its neighbourhood. And we believe its environmental impact should be as minimal as possible.

Our store designs are rooted in our coffee heritage, and in our community involvement and environmental stewardship goals. So our designs reflect the character of a store’s surrounding neighbourhood and help reduce environmental impacts.

As our stores are built and renovated, we will source materials and employ craftsmen on a local basis and incorporate reused and recycled elements where possible. To guide our efforts, we’re using the US Green Building Council’s LEED® certification programme as a benchmark for success. (LEED® is short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.)

We aim to achieve LEED® certification globally for all new, company-owned stores.

Each new and renovated store uses one of four design concepts. We invite you to explore them:

Heritage coffeehouses reflect the mercantile roots of our first store in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market with worn wood, stained concrete or tiled floors, metal stools and factory-inspired lighting. Large community tables, club chairs and wooden blinds evoke a turn-of-the-last-century feeling.

Artisan stores echo the industrial past of urban markets, taking inspiration from the Modernism of the 1930s. This motif celebrates simple materials like exposed steel beams, masonry walls, factory casement glass and hand-polished woodwork in a creative gathering place for culture and the arts.

Regional Modern embodies a trend-setting style that is comfortable and welcoming. We use bright, loft-like, light-filled spaces punctuated with regionally inspired furniture and culturally relevant fabrics to create a calm and contemporary respite from the clamour of the fast-paced world.

Concept stores are unique environments created by our designers to explore innovations within the coffeehouse. We call them our “design sandboxes”. That sense of exploration is extended to everyone who visits, through daily coffee and tea cuppings, artistic events and community gatherings.